What’s been going on at Pioneer?

August 22, 2008

Now that the SEC has embraced Twitter and issued new rules on the use of corporate web sites, you’d expect all sorts of companies to be jumping in with both feet. But that’s not exactly the case at Pionner Drilling (PDC).

Yesterday, after the market closed, the company filed this short 8K that was packed with information: the CFO, Joyce Schuldt, who only joined the company last year, resigned and will be gone by the end of next week, one of its directors, C. Robert Bunch, who happens to be the former Chairman, resigned from the board on Tuesday, which because Bunch was a member of the audit committee, puts the company in violation of American Stock Exchange rules on audit committees.

Yet, Pioneer waited until this morning to put out the press release announcing this news.

But even more potentially troubling is the short letter that Bunch wrote, which was attached to the 8K: “Over the past several months it has become increasingly clear that many of my views regarding Pioneer Drilling Company fundamentally differ from those of management and the other directors.”

Before this morning’s news, Pioneer’s stock was up over 50% year-to-date. But clearly, there’s been a lot of chaos in the boardroom. In an age of instant communication, it’s too bad that investors are just finding out about it now.

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